The Queen's Nine-Month Scandal Read Online Free PDF Page A

friend’s single-minded
intent to find the woman he couldn’t forgive, even after five years. He could
empathize with that single—mindedness now.
    The knowledge burned in his gut though—she’d looked at his
passport before she’d left because he’d found it on the floor. So she knew who
he was. And yet she hadn’t been in touch. Maybe it was karma for a man like him
who had loved and left women in his wake all his life.
    A cynical smile touched his mouth. What had he expected? That
she’d have declared undying love just because she’d been innocent? His mouth
tightened. And since when had he ever had such notions?
    The feeling of peace he’d experienced that night with her in
his arms mocked him now. It had shattered the moment he’d woken and found her
gone. And truth be told, as much as he wanted to find her again, a part of him
was also wary. She’d touched something deep inside him that had been locked away
ever since he was a tiny boy.
    For the first time in his adult life, he felt exposed. The last
time that had happened had been when he was five, at the orphanage, when a
couple had chosen another child over him. After that day, he’d greeted
prospective parents with an angry, gray-eyed glare. Of course they hadn’t chosen
the wild-looking child, and Daniel had never had to deal with the excoriating
sense of rejection again.
    But right now, his well-ingrained self-protection was fast
coming second to finding his mystery lover. He told himself again that he had a
valid reason: the protection had failed so she could even be pregnant. He told
himself this was why he wanted to find her so badly. But he knew himself well
enough by now to know it for such a falsehood. He wanted to find her because he
wanted her. He could still taste her on his tongue. His heart beat fast just
thinking about her.
    ‘Mr Petrovsky? You wanted the papers?’
    Daniel looked at the steward stupidly for a moment, his head
full of soft skin and a lush mouth. His body was reacting and this lack of
control made him curt as he accepted the pile of papers. ‘See to it I’m not
disturbed again.’
    Daniel hated this evidence that a memory controlled him. He
gritted his jaw as he flicked open the top paper, one of Europe’s main
broadsheets. For a second he could only blink at the screaming headline and the
huge colour picture underneath, even as he felt the shock register in his
body.
    Virgin Queen Analia of Azoria pregnant by
a mystery lover!
    Daniel looked at the picture. Half of her face was obscured by
huge black glasses. Below was another picture and he saw the eyes that had been
hidden from him under black lace. They were the deepest sapphire blue, with long
dark lashes, exotically tilted at the corners. Stunning.
    Recognition fell like a cold hard stone into his gut. He took
in the delicate jaw, small straight nose, lush mouth, glossy dark hair. The
shape of her cheek. The way her breast had felt in his
palm . The way she’d splintered around
him . Daniel’s hands curled to fists around the paper, crushing it. Rage
engulfed him, eclipsing the feeling of exposure. To finally know who she was...to finally be able to confront her and know why
she’d run.
    With a calm belying his inner tumult, Daniel picked up his
intercom to the pilot and instructed him to change the flight plan.
    * * *
    The City of Azoria’s palatial grand palace was a
glorious mix of its heritage; Moorish, Greek, Italian and French. But Analia was
oblivious to it. She’d just emerged from a meeting with Pierre and her chief
advisors.
    One had stood up and declared censoriously, ‘The engagement
with Prince Wilhelm is off. Unless you can marry the father of your child then
you will leave us no choice but to force you to abdicate.’
    Pierre, her stalwart supporter had stood up angrily and said,
‘The people will decide what they want and they will want Queen Analia, as she
is.’
    The meeting descended into shouts and anger until Analia stood
up and slammed